After being down this dock my whole life it never ceases to amaze me that there continues to be first time sightings of birds or sealife as often as the occur.
I spotted this bird which at first looked like a different type of seagull but it went under water in search of food and I haven’t seen seagulls go underwater like a loon or a a cormorant.
It’s wings were outlined with a thick black band around pure white centers. It had a black bill and orange/redish feet. The feet looked like they were positioned toward the very rear end of the bird as well.
Good Morning Gloucester 
possibly a black guillemot?
same beak, same white wing patches, with it’s winter plumage
http://www.neseabirds.com/BirdsAlcidsGuillemot.htm
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Guillemot
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if you look closely at your photos you can see the bright red legs/feet
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my girlfriend/sternman saw a couple in the harbor while we were taking traps off the boat
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This is a winter plumage Black Guillemot. How insane is this? We have them at this time of year off Atlantic Ave, Dogbar and up through Rockport off shore. I have never seen one inside the harbor. How insane is this? I have seen Razorbills, (a related species) out by the reflector by the Tarr and Wanson Paint factory on Saturday and Sunday. These very rarely come inside the breakwater.
Bird-nerd factoid. From the French, Guillaume. It is called Guillemot because it’s nickname was “little William”.
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I dub thee Cuteness!
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the are pretty birds! 🙂 gannets and loons are my favorite but i don’t mind gulls either. i kept an injured one in a tote under my trap table for a couple of days but it ended up dying. 😦
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These are amazing photos of the black guillemot!! I would have been stumped, too! Sometimes it’s so hard to keep up with the different plumages. Well done! ~karen
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fantastic pictures Joey! yes, it looks like either a juvenile or an adult non-breeding Atlantic black guillemot. http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/878/Variations/Black_Guillemot.aspx
very cool, as it’s somewhat rare for them to come this far south — they’re usual range is Arctic down through Canada to Maine.
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I believe it is called an Eiderdown duck ~ very pretty ~ they were here last year by the Cut Bridge on the Boulevard ~ hugs and namaste, cz
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Hi Joey!
This info is from my ole friend, Doc Mackey, in Georgetown: “”what a fun bird to see — this bird usually arrives the third week in november and stays until the first week in april ( when we begin to windsurf ) — it is a juvenile BLACK GUILLEMOT. you find them close to rocky shores and i see them at the breakwater on eastern point in gloucester. they are very hardy and only come on land ( offshore islands ) to lay eggs and rear young. this is the tropics for them and they are now on vacation — can you imagine coming here now, in the north atlantic, in winter, for a “summer vacation”? the rest of the time they go as far north as they can, literally, and still be within 100-200 miles from a continent — fantastic animals! they are essentially small flying penguins.
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I would love to see a Black Guillemot! Poor Little Auk, I felt so badly, but really wanted to take it to Jodi or Erinn so they could check it out 🙂
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